A post!? I forgot about those.

Well, it's been forever since I've posted. It's certainly not cause nothing has happened. Quite the contrary. I could say I've been too busy to post...but that's not really true. I could try and pass off some psycho-babble nonsense about how I'm so well adjusted here now that I don't have a need to share my thoughts and experiences...but that wouldn't really be accurate either. Mostly I think I've just been lazy. I have also found myself less and less inclined to spend lots of time on the intarweb if I can avoid it. Maybe I've actually kicked my need to feel constantly wired into the rest of the world. That's a fun thought.

Anyway, I suppose I should fill you in. I'm not actually looking at my blog while I type this so I'm not really sure when my last post was. I'll just give a rundown in reverse chronology of some of the most significat events of the past few months.

Just finished swear in week. It's been a madhouse. The PC director was in town for that and the combined PC Niger 45th anniversary celebration. This means that everything had to be perfect. It also meant that everyone was running their asses off trying to make sure we presented the ideal face for the director. So much for objective observation. I was seriously contemplating not coming into Niamey this week, but I got roped into doing a musical performance for the 45th with little to no prep time to get it organized. Kurt and Josh and I found a couple of our musical buddies and basically just had a 10 minute jam session. It was what it was. I think it was awful...people keep telling us otherwise.

I've also been horribly sick all week. Worst case of amoebas ever. I've been finished with the main meds for two days now and I still have diarhea. They say you're not a true Peace Corps volunteer until you've crapped your pants. Well you can count me in those ranks now.

Last week I went to a training session at the ICRISAT research center with my school teacher and several other volunteers and their counterparts. It was very interesting and will hopefully help my teacher and I when we try and set up a school market garden in the comming months. Kudos to Danielle for all the work and effort she put into it.

Let's see...what else... OH YEAH! I went to that magical place: America! I went home for about 3 weeks in August for a couple of weddings. The trip really deserves its own post as it was very interesting to go back into that society after my time here. Suffice to say for now that I did have reverse culture shock (first three days home were in Manhattan) and that it was wonderful to be back visiting with friends and family. America is also freezing. Even in August. It was glorious.

Prior to my trip to America I'm not sure what I have or have not talked about. If I find any gaps I'll be sure and fill you in. In the meantime I'll try and type out some discussions of what it was like to be home and what it's like to be back here now. Bizzare and perfectly normal are both apt descriptors. I'm sure it'll make more sense later.